- DARIUS
the Mede became king. He was pleased with Daniel and planned to make him
governor-in-chief of a hundred and twenty princes. These princes tried to
find some fault in Daniel that would make the king turn against him. But
they could find nothing.
- "We shall never find
evidence against this Daniel," they said, "unless it is something in
regard to the law of his God."
- So they invented a
decree that anyone who asked a favor of any god or man except Darius
should be thrown into a den of lions. The king signed the decree, a law of
the Medes and Persians, which could not be changed.
When Daniel heard of the decree, he went into his house, into his room
where the windows were open toward Jerusalem, and knelt down in prayer as
he always did three times a day. And there the princes saw him kneeling in
prayer to God.
Then they went to the king and said, "This Daniel, one of your
captives, does not respect you or your laws, but keeps on praying to his
own God three times a day."
The king was worried and tried all day long to free him. But the
princes gave him no peace. At last the king gave orders to throw Daniel
into the den of lions. But to Daniel he said, "Your God, whom you serve
faithfully, will save you!"
Then they put Daniel into the lions' den and brought a stone and put
it at the entrance. The king sealed it with his own seal, so that Daniel
could not escape.
For six days Daniel stayed in the lions' den, and the lions did not hurt
him. But Daniel was hungry.
Far from Babylon, there lived a prophet named Habakkuk. He was taking
some food to the workers in a field when an angel took him and put him in
the den where Daniel was. He gave the food he carried to Daniel. Then the
angel carried Habakkuk back to his house.
The unhappy king spent the night without sleep. Very early in the
morning, on the seventh day, he hurried to the lions' den and called,
"Daniel, 0 Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God whom you serve
faithfully able to deliver you from the lions?"
"0 king, live forever!" said Daniel. "The lions have not hurt me,
because I was innocent in the sight of God and of my king!"
Now King Darius was very happy. He had Daniel brought out of the den
and gave this command, "Let everyone in my kingdom worship the God of
Daniel, for He is the living God! His kingdom shall have no end."
Daniel's enemies were thrown into the den, and the lions killed them
at once.
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